Microsoft Provides Windows Phone 8 Details

Microsoft today offered a detailed look at Windows Phone 8 and all the new features that have been added to Microsoft's smartphone platform. Speaking at an event in New York City, Microsoft's Joe Belfiore explained that MIcrosoft wants to offer the most personalized experience possible. The new Start screen is much more customizable thanks to the adjustable size of Live Tiles, which now come in three sizes rather than two. The new version of Internet Explorer 10 in WP8 supports multiple tabs and has better tools for controlling them. The new platform supports taking screen shots of the device and the ability to share photos via NFC and a new "Tap + Share" feature. The camera itself offers pinch-to-zoom for zooming in and out, and also offers quick access to other camera/photo apps in a new feature called "Lens Applications" that integrate with the camera itself, such as Bing Vision, and third party lenses including CNN iReport.

These are all fine and fabulous additions, but if WP8 doesn't persistently display the time, signal strength, and battery indicator on every screen, I'm (still) not interested.

I'm pretty sure this is still a phone, isn't it? It says so in the nomenclature; Windows PHONE 8. So why does Microsoft do their damnedest to put as many layers of unnecessary interaction as possible between you and any essential phone-related information?

The fact that the indicators are hidden on the current batch of Windows Phone devices is one of the biggest reasons why I gave up on my HD7, and rarely use my 710. Combine this with a startling dearth of software, an absolutely horrible on-screen keyboard, and the lack of function-based widgets (such as wi-f...(continues)